Sarah (Sarai)
Wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac
- Also called
- Sarai (before Genesis 17)
- Husband
- Abraham
- Son
- Isaac, born when she was 90
- Died
- Aged 127 at Hebron (Genesis 23:1–2)
- Main texts
- Genesis 11–23; Genesis Apocryphon
Abraham's wife, taken by Pharaoh in Egypt in Genesis 12; the Dead Sea Scrolls' Genesis Apocryphon adds a long poem on her beauty.
What is Sarah known for?
Sarai, later renamed Sarah, is the wife of Abraham. In Genesis 12, during a famine, the couple go down to Egypt. Abram fears the Egyptians will kill him for his beautiful wife, so she says she is his sister. Pharaoh takes her into his house, plagues strike his household, and he sends them away. God later renames her Sarah, and at about 90 she gives birth to Isaac. She dies at 127 at Hebron and is buried in the cave of Machpelah.
The Genesis Apocryphon, an Aramaic scroll from Qumran Cave 1, retells the Egypt episode at length. Pharaoh's courtiers praise Sarai's beauty in a long poem describing her face, hair, eyes, hands and legs. When Pharaoh takes her, a plague spirit strikes his household until Abram lays hands on him and heals him.
Sarah is honored as a matriarch in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. She is known from Genesis and the texts that retell it.
Sarai appears in the site's page on the Genesis Apocryphon, which expands her time in Pharaoh's court.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeGenesis Apocryphon
- PersonAbraham (Abram)
- PersonIsaac
- PersonTobit and Tobias
Sources
- Genesis 12 (KJV), Bible GatewayPrimary text
- Wikipedia, 'Sarah'Reference
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